Competing demands and perceptions of sustainability for the food industry Workshop - University of Birmingham, 4th July 2017

What can new research bring to Sustainable Intensification of Agriculture?

Dr Adélia de Paula

The global growth of fertilizer use and cereal production, 1960-2010Source: UNEP 2011

THE GREEN REVOLUTIONResponding to demands for increasing food production

The challenges:

“There is a pressing need for the 'sustainableintensification' of global agriculture in which yieldsare increased without adverse environmentalimpact and without the cultivation of more land. ”

Priorities for action: Promote sustainable

intensification

Sustainable Intensification (SI)

Sustainable intensification means simultaneously raising yields,increasing the efficiency with which inputs are used and reducing thenegative environmental effects of food production.

It requires economic and social changes to recognise the multipleoutputs required of land managers, farmers and other food producers,and a redirection of research to address a more complex set of goalsthan just increasing yield.

The Future of Food and FarmingChallenges and choices for global sustainability

Ecological Intensification

Intercropping

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Conservation Farming

Organic Farming

Genetic

Intensification

Higher Yields

Improving Nutrition

Resilience to Pests and Diseases

Resilience to Climate Change

Nitrogen Uptake and Fixation

Socio-economic Intensification

Creating Enabling Environments

Building Social Capital

Building Human Capital

Creating Sustainable Livelihoods

Push-Pull technology in Africa

SI examples from developing countries:

Rice-fish in Asia

Trade-off and short- and long-term gains

SI requires research with more ‘systems’ orientated approaches:

Holistic approach for farming, planning and management – connecting resources,production, consumption and investments

Research should be participatory (diagnostic, design, evaluation and learning) Should address farmer’s priorities, strategies and resource allocation decisions Systems should be delineated by spatial and temporal boundariesUses systematic investigation to understand interdependenceRequires inter-disciplinarityApplies modern technology tools It is depended of data, information and knowledge → development of models,

scenarios It is also important to provide evidence for agricultural policies

£4.5M investment

Examples from the UKPartners and sub-contractors

Understanding thesystems

Designinginterventions

Socio-economic context

SIP 1 - Integrated Farm Management for improved economic, environmental and social performance (led by NIAB)

Metrics/indicators Integrated Farm Management

practices

Decision support

SIP 2 - Opportunities and risks for farming and the environment at landscape scales(led by University of Exeter)

Land typology(capability and risk)

Landscape scale interventions

Collaborative land management,

performance and benchmarking

SIP 3 - Markets and drivers (led by ADAS) Resilience of UK farming

Income streams Sphere of influence

• Farmers attitudes and practices – adoption ofnew practices strongly influenced by supply chain(including farm suppliers and advisors)

• The role of value chain in influencing farmingpractices – costumer-orientated focus toproduction, good relationship with buyers tosecure market and premium price

• Mechanisms for driving changes to SI practices –most effective are those that stimulate long-termchanges in beliefs and norms which then influencethe behaviours that supports SI

Achieving Sustainable Agricultural SystemsASSIST (£11 million research programme)

• Develop a large-scale network of study farms & new sensor networks to undertake hypothesis-driven experimentation

• Provide data, models, web portal, infrastructure & opportunities to support complementary research programmes & Horizon topics

• Develop innovative farming systems in collaboration with industry and stakeholders to: Increase efficiency of food production Improve resilience to extreme events Reduce the environmental foot print of agriculture

Soil to NutritionS2N

• Identify the key processes determining nutrient useefficiency, productivity and resilience across foodproduction systems

• From soil to landscape, will provide the keymechanistic indicators necessary to directinterventions for sustainable intensification of futurefarming systems at the field, farm and landscape scales

• SIRN is a community network for UK researchers inagricultural, biological, environmental and social sciences

• SIRN aims to: achieve better integration of research and resources and

looks for innovative approaches to address SI

stimulate proposals for innovative, systems-orientedresearch relevant to SI at the interfaces betweendisciplines in the biological and environmental and socialsciences

The Sustainable Intensification Research Network (SIRN)

Leadership team

Prof Andy WhitmoreRothamsted Research(Principal Investigator)

Prof Sue HartleyUniversity of York

Prof Michael WinterUniversity of Exeter

Dr Matt HeardCentre for Ecology

and Hydrology

Dr Adelia de PaulaRothamsted Research (Network Coordinator)

Coordination with other research groups and networks and interfaces with funders

Integration of agricultural, biological,

environmental and social sciences

Facilitate sharing and coordination

of capabilities, resources of

expertise

Promote, disseminate and connect activities

in SI research, and stimulate

new ones

Encourage links with other

related UK and international

activities

Achieving Agricultural Sustainable Systems

(ASSIST)

Soil to Nutrition (Optimising Nutrient Flow)

How you can get involved?

• You can become a member of the network• You can subscribe to SIRN newsletter and follow SIRN on social media• You can participate in our events and discussion forums

For more information: www.sirn.org.uk

@SIRN_tweets

“Modern agriculture requires an innovative capacity

which goes far beyond the individual farmer, researcher,

industrialist, trader or adviser, even beyond the abilities

of any one of their organizations or institutions.”Paul G. Engel